Silver fern flag design 'heartwarming'

A descendant of the man widely credited with putting the silver fern on the All Black jersey has welcomed the three fern designs for an alternative New Zealand flag.

Photo: RNZ / Alexander Robertson

Four designs that could replace New Zealand's current national flag were revealed last week. Three feature a silver fern with a variety of background colours and one has a large white koru on a black background.

His great nephew Edward, kaumatua of the Ellison family, grew up in the homestead built by Tom Ellison's parents on the Otakou peninsula.

He said the family was very aware of the history and associations of the silver fern.

"It always gives us a buzz to see it in any form in a national sense, so it was pretty heartwarming really to think that it came through on three of the four options," he said.

Mr Ellison said as far as he knew the whole whanau - which includes New Zealand Sevens player Tamati Ellison and American football star Riki Ellison - supported replacing the current flag with one that features the silver fern.

Denis Dwyer, the author of the recently released Black Jersey, Silver Fern: Tom Ellison - First Maori to Captain the All Blacks, told Sunday Morning the silver fern pre-dates the All Blacks and was actually first worn by New Zealand Native team of 1888, of which Ellison was a star player.